[Every other time Paula came home from her rehearsals, she couldn't wait to get into bed with me. Except this time.]
I'll give you a little background: This happened many years ago. Paula was maybe 35. We hadn't yet included others in our lovemaking. In fact, I don't think we had even spoken about such a thing. About the most raciest our lovemaking sessions had been was occasionally having sex outdoors, or visiting a nude beach, or fooling around in the car outside a bar. I now wonder if this situation may have spurred us towards including others.
For the last couple years Paula had been performing in a handful of plays at two nearby stages. No pay. No prestige to speak of. A lot of work. A lot of rehearsals and then performances on Friday night and matinee and evening shows on Saturday and Sunday. I tried to add up all the hours she devoted to one show and it was like 60 over 6 weeks with the bulk of that right at the end. Our eldest daughter is now old enough to watch her siblings for the few hours if Paula's rehearsals conflicted with my work. We make it work. It's something she loves.
Her fellow actors run the gamut from semi-famous, to sorta has-beens now slumming it trying to get back in; to up-and-coming folks who are on the brink of making it; to people like Paula who maybe always wanted to be a star but life got in the way. For Paula, a bad life choice in her past left her with a daughter but no husband. Paula's star became out of reach then, but with me at her side she could now put her heart back into the stage.
Shortly after her last play Paula got a call from her director, Beth. A man I'll call Morgan had contacted Beth asking about Paula. He had seen Paula in the play and was very impressed. He was casting for a short film he was producing and would like her to test for a role. Could Beth give him her number?
I later found out that Morgan had made a couple of films previously that were local, critical successes, but not commercial successes, so he didn't make any money. We later learned that he was also directing, filming, editing, scoring, mixing and everything else in this film. It was decidedly low budget.
Paula told me later that night that she had agreed to give him her number. I figured what could it hurt? So two days later Morgan calls her. They had a nice little chat. Morgan was very complimentary which didn't really surprise us. Considering his earlier films and their glowing, albeit local, reviews, he seemed legit. They set a date for the screen test and the following Friday Paula went.
"How did your big screen test go?" I asked.
"Interesting might be the best word. He had me recite a few lines while he filmed me on what looked like a camcorder. Anyway, he gave some direction, asking me to change how I recited, sometimes forcefully, sometimes timidly, sometimes saucily. He didn't elaborate on the role, only that it was starring and intense."
"Sounds normal enough. What made it interesting?"
"He asked me how I felt about nudity and simulated lovemaking."
"Oh. What did you say?"
"I said that I wouldn't do full frontal nudity, but tasteful, brief, boobs and butt would be ok. I've kissed a few guys over the years, onstage and off so that part is no big deal. As far as simulated lovemaking, again, tasteful and brief would be ok."
"Hmmm. From what I've read about his earlier films, they were dramatic, but no mention of sex. I guess he feels he needs to include that to make them sell."
"Morgan asked me if I'd be willing to disrobe and that it wouldn't be filmed. I did, but I held my panties in front of myself."
"Wow. First thing and you're getting naked?"
"I wasn't naked, I told you I covered myself in front."
"What did he do? He sounds lecherous."
"He looked me over, front and back very closely but never tried to touch me or do anything. He didn't actually offer me the role, but I think my chances are better than good."
"I'm starting to feel I'm being left out of the decision making process here. I think that maybe I should be asking more questions, try to be more involved. It seems you are moving forward without talking to me."
"What decisions are you being left out of?"
"The ones about you getting naked and simulating sex with your co-stars."
"I haven't agreed to anything yet. I only told him I wasn't ruling it out. Many actresses do nude and lovemaking scenes, especially early in their careers and in case you didn't notice, I'm not a spring chicken any longer."
"Well, maybe those actresses aren't married. I'd like to be a part of things going forward."
[She would be so worked up she'd call me when she was leaving, quietly ordering me to be naked and in bed when she got home. Believe me, I didn't mind. Few things are hotter to me than my very aroused wife demanding to be fucked. But not tonight. Why?]
The very next day Morgan called Paula and offered her the role of Gwendolyn, the star of his next film. The film would be shown in as many film reviews and film festivals as he could muster. If the early reviews were as ecstatic as he expected they could be, he would take out loans to get the film to Cannes and Sundance. The only catch was he couldn't pay her until the film made money. He offered her a contract stipulating her acting for $1 and a 10% take of all future profits. Thankfully I happened to be around when she got the call and she put it on speaker. I remained silent but held up my hand and told her to ask for time to decide. I don't think Morgan was expecting this, and possibly feeling rebuffed told her he needed her answer within the hour.
I told Paula that we would need to see any contract before she signed it and it had to have a provision that she could decline any scene she felt she was uncomfortable with or sexually gratuitous and that as the star she needed to get 30% of profits. We figured he'd agree to the scene clause and settle at 20% of profits. We were right about both. We got the contract an hour later via email - new thing back then, and signed it and snail-mailed it back.
A few days later the script arrived with the tentative rehearsal and shooting schedule and her check for $1.00. The location was only about 45 minutes away. The schedule was for three long days at location for exterior and interior scenes at a Gold Coast mansion Morgan was renting for the days. There was a week-long break and then two long days at a local film studio that also was rented. Things were to start July 1.
The script was, shall we say, passé? A lonely, bored, trophy wife becomes entranced by the pool boy named Chance and seduces him. Well, I shouldn't say Chance was a boy, as the age of her co-star was not defined, and the conversation was mature, so who knows. I was hoping for something more as this didn't seem too dramatic.
Paula reminded me there are no small roles, only small actors but I reminded her that you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear. I told her that her chances to make any money with this script seemed miniscule. She didn't care. She had stars in her eyes. Her first film! Exposure on the big screen! Who knows where it could lead? When I asked her if any of the scenes bothered her she said no. I read through the script and found the love scenes. One make-out session on the pool chaise lounge so I guessed that would be shot at the mansion, and three sets of lovemaking, one on a sofa and two in bed that I guessed would be shot at the studio. While the script had all of their lines and most of their actions, such as "Gwen pulls Chance's swim trunks off" it would then only say they embrace and kiss deeply, then 'they went to bed and made love'. I was guessing that those actions would be directed to them or they would coordinate how they would move with each other. This was way before 'Intimacy Coordinators' were a thing and besides, there was no money in the budget for one.
Morgan refused to reveal to us who would play Chance. He did tell Paula that her character should have a good suntan so please have one and that he really wanted her to have tan-lines so wear her bikini. Paula complied, sunning in her newest, smallest bikini whenever she could. She also went on a healthy-only diet and hit the gym a bunch. I told her she shouldn't change too much as Morgan liked the way she looked when he hired her but she didn't listen to me.
I was a sport and worked with Paula on her lines. It eventually got easy and we could do them without referring to the script. We didn't memorize the pages of voice-overs as she could hold the script when they were recorded. There were only a couple of other actors with bit parts, so the bulk of our lines were me as Chance and her as Gwen. We rehearsed her sexy scenes in bed. I would tease both of us I think when I talked to her about how I couldn't believe she would be hungrily kissing some other guy. Getting naked with him. Allowing him to fondle her, touch and kiss her breasts and neck. I swear just me saying these things would make her wet, so the prospect evidently excited her. To be honest, for some strange reason it excited me too. There must be something wrong with me.
Paula would always say it was just acting. She only loved me. That I was so wonderful for being cool with this, not making it impossible. But those nights she would wrap her legs around me and fuck me back so hard!
[She'd almost run into the bedroom, pulling her clothes off. I mean she would pounce on top of me, wrapping her arms around my head, kissing me with amazing hunger. She was the total aggressor and I loved it. The newness of it, as our usual style was always me taking the lead, slowly building with the intent to arouse her. Here, she's crazily aroused and ready for action. But not tonight. WTF!]
About a week before the first day of shooting we got the 'block out' of how they planned to film. The script runs like the story, so the scenes are moving around; from the pool to the grounds to the sunroom to the foyer, living room and bedroom. Blocking makes best use of the sets and locations. If you are eventually going to have four scenes by the pool, you block them together so you don't have to keep moving lights, cameras, microphones, etc. The actors will then just act each scene and the film editor stitches them together in order at the end. We knew the first scenes would be at the mansion. Paula would be in her bikini almost the whole movie, except when she was in her birthday suit. There were dialog scenes on the grounds and in several rooms in the mansion, but none of the love scenes so I guessed those must come later in the studio. There were a few scenes by the pool including the first time Paula takes her bikini top off and there is kissing.
Morgan asked that the actors have their lines memorized for all of the scenes at the mansion as if the weather was good they would do the outdoor shots first but if it was rainy they would do the indoor shots. It was explained that the cameras would always be rolling so that the first run-through of a scene would be a rehearsal and if it went well, they'd do it once more for good luck and then pick the best one. If it was rocky, they'd rehearse again and again until they either got it right or they ran out of time and were forced to just choose one. Paula had all of her lines nailed so dialog wasn't a problem and we even ran through them mixed up as blocked to make sure. It did make it harder to do, but she had no problems. As it turned out the weather favored that they do interior shots the first day as the next would be sunny.
